I rewatched an old but good video on the war on drugs. And it reminded me, that tlaw enforcement is AT BEST 1 step ahead of some criminals. But that the criminal element is always rapidly adapting, and the best thing we can do against drugs and crime is to focus on the demand side.
We legalized the drugs, but didn’t do the more important half of that solution, treatment and services for the drug users.
So, why aren’t we doing more? Who dropped the ball? Are we doomed to just keep throwing more law enforcement at the problem?
There was a 2 year delay between decrim and OHA pumping out millions of dollars for treatment and harm reduction. That money started coming out this year and now providers are scrambling to hire and implement programs. They’re running into workforce shortages, but those will resolve over the next year. Probably right around the time that Max Williams and Betsy Johnson get a repeal of m110 and we go back to our old failed policies.
How is this not a more common talking point? This seems like a pretty clear explanation for the severity of the situation, maybe that money will be all the difference. Maybe not, but if it was part of the original plan… we got to give the original plan a chance to work.
Dude, I have no idea. It’s pretty frustrating to watch this debate.
We haven’t changed any of the inputs but have analyzed the outputs and things keep getting worse!